Ryan stared at his plate, grimaced, and pushed it away. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“I love broccoli, Mommy,” Tabitha said. Always the pleaser, she took a big bite and chewed and tried her best not to make a face. She even smiled through it.
Yeah, Tabitha hated broccoli, too, but she’d do anything to make Jane happy. Even eat broccoli.
“There’s a two-week camp coming up next summer,” Ryan said. “Chris says it has archery and canoes and swimming in the lake and hiking. I was wondering if I could go.”
Jane frowned. Chris’s parents owned one of the car dealerships in town. They had money. Jane did not. This camp wasn’t going to be free. She sensed disappointment ahead for her little boy. “Do you have a brochure?”
“Yeah.” Hope glimmered in her sweet boy’s brown eyes, and he fished it out from his backpack, no doubt with a sales pitch already planned. Her kid was nothing if not prepared when there was something he wanted. He was a lot like his father in that respect.
He handed it over. “They have lots of activities, Mom, and the counselors are all trained in CPR and first aid. Most of them went to the camp when they were my age. Isn’t that cool?”
Jane couldn’t help but zero right in on the cost. She swallowed, hard. No way could she afford it. She was stretched thin enough on her budget as it was, and trying to locate Vic to pay his back child support was harder than trying to find a dress that didn’t make her butt look big.
Might as well rip the Band-Aid off rather than give Ryan false hope. She looked up at him and gave him a smile that she prayed showed him how much she loved him. “It looks awesome, sweetie. But it’s a little too much money, and you know how things are.”
His hopeful smile died. He looked crushed, and her heart ached at his disappointment as he gazed down at his plate and pushed the broccoli around with his fork. “Yeah. It’s okay. I understand, Mom.”
That was the problem. He did understand, and he still loved his father, still hoped his dad would show up at his ball games. Or just show up.
Part of her wished he would, too, that he’d get clean and come back—at least for his kids. What she had with Vic was over, but his children needed a father, the kind of father he used to be, not the one he’d become when he’d spent every day so drunk and high that he could barely remember his own name.
But it was times like this she was so angry at Vic that if he showed his face right now she wasn’t sure what she would do. Likely lay him flat for running out on his children and leaving them wanting things they couldn’t have, things she couldn’t give them.
Damn him.
“Hey, kids. I have all this extra chocolate cake and I thought—wow, the place is kinda empty tonight, and if there aren’t enough people eating dessert, I’m gonna have to throw it away. I thought maybe you could take it off my hands.”
God bless Anita, who was her favorite waitress and a good friend. Divorced three times and with two grown sons, Anita had been her lifesaver. They’d had a few heart-to-heart talks about lousy husbands. And Jane knew that cake wouldn’t end up on her check tonight.
Ryan had a sweet tooth that rivaled any kid in town, and Anita’s offer distracted him from his disappointment. His eyes widened. “Oh, cake. Can we have cake, Mom?”
She’d deal with the sugar high for hours and it would be hell to get the kids to bed tonight, but it would be worth it. “Of course you can have cake. Thanks, Anita.”
Anita winked and shoved her pencil into the wild mass of streaked blonde and brown hair piled on top of her head. “No problem, honey. Kids, go have Charlotte serve up that cake for you at the counter.”
The kids scrambled off. They loved sitting at the counter, where Charlotte, Bert’s wife, would serve them cake, no doubt with a dollop of ice cream on the side.
“Thanks again,” she said as Anita filled a cart with their empty dishes.
“You looked like you could use a ray of sunshine today.”
She hated that it showed on her face. “Oh, I’m fine. I just hate saying no to the kids.”
Anita laughed. “It’s a good word for them to learn. Teaches them that not everything in life is free.”
“I know that, but I haven’t been able to do anything special for them since Vic left. And Ryan wants to go to this fancy summer camp and I just can’t afford it.”
“Yeah, well, that’s Vic’s fault, not yours.” She punctuated the statement by tossing the utensils viciously into the cart.
“But my kids still adore their father.”
Anita gave them a look over her shoulder. Tabitha and Ryan were busily scooping from the bowl of ice cream Charlotte had given them and paying zero attention to their conversation.
“They’ll get over that when they’re older and realize how much he piled on your shoulders.”
“I got the great end of the deal,” Jane said with a smile. “I got them.”
Anita squeezed her arm. “You sure did, honey.”
Charlotte came over. She was a slight, just a bit over five feet tall woman with short gray hair, but she was formidable and ran Bert’s like a drill sergeant. She was also one of the sweetest women Jane had ever met. She slid a bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of her. Jane didn’t know what she’d do without Bert’s as a refuge.
“Some for you, too, sweetie,” Charlotte said.
She lifted her gaze at Charlotte. “Thanks. I needed that.”
“Figured,” Charlotte said with a wink.
Alone at the table, Jane inhaled and took a bite of the ice cream, then sighed, realizing this wasn’t going to do much to thin her thighs.
Then again, today she didn’t much care.
“Did you hear that Emma Burnett is back in town?” Anita took a seat across from her. It was a light crowd at the diner, and they’d come before the typical dinner rush anyway.
Jane was glad for the company—and some town gossip.
“No. Really?”
“Yes. She bought out Doc Weston’s veterinary practice and is reopening it.”
Jane smiled, happy to be talking about someone else for a change. “That’s great news. Gosh, I haven’t seen Emma since…high school, I guess. It’s been a really long time.”
“Yeah, she left town for vet school and then some job somewhere else and hasn’t been home much. I know she popped in here now and then during breaks from college, but we sure haven’t seen much of her over the years.”